We could easily make this since we have lots of mint growing in our garden.

We have some bed frames we are considering… a couple from west elm (this and this), and this one from Design Within Reach. We are still far from choosing a natural mattress though, but we do know we want a king size bed this time around. That’s progress considering we started bed shopping about two year ago. HA!

It’s been wonderful to see our whole gang back together, all the crazy messes and yelling is back, but we will gladly take it.

Thankful to hear about all the wonderful memories the older girls shared with their grandma. They cried for an hour at the airport on our way home.

We filled up this little cuties crate with some of our favorite Crayola products and dubbed it our summer art box. It’s been sitting on our dining table since the beginning of summer, and it’s been getting lots of use during our days at home (when we don’t want to go out and face the heat). It completely captivated the attention of Soul and Glow, while their big sisters were gone. They spent many mornings and afternoons together painting and coloring while they listened to music. I’d join in from time to time too (we made a large poster together), but they were perfectly content creating together while I puttered about the house. The big sisters are back now, so everyone is catching up on the playing, but there has been some making happening too.

Soul and Glow have made so much art work that their walls are full of their masterpieces. One of the things we did while their big sisters were gone was redecorate their rooms, so they are proud to have their new art work on display. True and Brave came home saying, “We want to fill up our walls too!” I predict the last few weeks of summer will be filled with more painting, playing, and eat ice cream. Anyone thinking your future might look similar to mine?

Supplies were provided as part of the Michaels Makers Program. Michaels carries a wide range of Crayola for you and your next kids’ next project in stores and on Michaels.com – and the best part, all Crayola product is on sale from 8/2-8/8!

After our day trip to Marfa, and an overnight stay in Van Horn, Texas, we headed to Salt Flat, Texas. The dry salt pan used to be a salt lake that dried up, and the result is the vast flat white land. The ground has this subtle sparkle from the salt, and after walking across the whole lake and back to our car, we could taste a bit of salt on our lips. There was only one other car that stopped alongside the road with us, but they didn’t stay too long. There is a marker that tells you a little bit about the history of the area, but other than that, most people probably overlook this area when driving by.

It was a warm day, but the slight breeze made it feel bearable. The white is blinding though, so our sunglasses stayed on. It was interesting crossing the expanse of it because there wasn’t much plant life or creepy crawling creatures, at least none that we noticed. There were bees flying, but that was about it. I took home a white branch as a souvenir.

White Sands National Monument was absolutely stunning. There is this large field of white sand dunes made of gypsum crystals. It totally trips you out because it looks cold (at least that’s what your mind tells you because it’s so reminiscent of snow), but it was so warm out. You don’t even attempt to wear shoes here because the sand is powder soft. We didn’t know what to expect, and was thinking it would be just like the salt flat, but this definitely exceeded our expectations. The whole area is so vast and we were just in awe at the beauty of it all; the glory of God is clearly evident in nature.

At the visitors center, you can learn more about the area and purchase a saucer sled ($15, but they’ll buy it back for $5). We drove around the dune field until we found the hill we wanted to go sledding on. I was a little nervous because we chose a steep one, so I made Ben go first. HA! I had butterflies in my stomach because I didn’t know what to expect, but oh man was that exhilarating. It was pure fun! I was happily shrieking as I made my way down. The uphill trek was a workout, but that trip down made it worth it. Ben and I felt like kids playing.

We will definitely be making another stop here with the girls one day. They would have a blast sledding up and down the hills. We were sending them videos of us sledding and they thought it was so funny how crazy we were screaming. From the salt pan, it was about a 2 hour drive to the white sands; these are definite road trip stops if you find yourself road tripping through west Texas and through the southwest part of New Mexico.

on me: top, gift from my MIL (similar here, here, here, and here), shorts, gap (but from when I was in high school, similar here). shoes, gap (sold out, similar here). worn here also.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper, and lay out cookies (with top side facing down) on top. Spread on the Nocciolata, add milk chocolate pieces on top, then place a marshmallow on top. Bake until the marshmallows are puffed and a little bit burnt (I like my marshmallows burnt, but if that’s not your style, just watch until they’re golden) for about 2-4 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with another cookie (top side facing up), and press down slightly. Now, devour!

We just had a Blaze Pizza pop up near our house, and they use digestive biscuits for their s’mores, and I loved it! During my study abroad in London, I have fond memories of my best friend chowing down on her digestive biscuits. When we were at the grocery store, she’d stock pile on digestive biscuits and I would stock up on Penguins (the best!!!). I think I much prefer these biscuits with s’mores than graham crackers!

I’m not sure if you can find these biscuits at the regular grocery store, but I know they do sell them at World Market. Thankfully, we have a little Indian market right around the corner from our house, and they carry a lot of UK brands, so I just picked up a package from there. A friend recently brought over brownies topped with s’mores, so I’m going to try these biscuits out with that recipe too.

Mexican and Mushroom Pizza. We all love pizza and it’s such an easy thing to make for dinner. I think I’ve been making it once or twice a week since summer started. We like thin and crispy crust, so I’ve been working on getting that just right. A friend told me to let my pizza pan get hot in the oven before putting my dough on, and sure enough, that’s really been helping getting the crust nice and crispy. Ben also purchased this steel baking pan, and I think that was also the key in getting this crispy cracker like crust that we love. If deep dish, thick crust pizza is your thing, you won’t like my pizza.